Great Western Coffee Shop

This chart, which I will update each month, shows:

Blue line - the total number of posts each calendar month since this forum was set up;

Red line - the average number of posts per month since this forum was set up;

Green line - the 'moving annual average' of the number of posts per month over the previous twelve months:

(http://i.imgur.com/bBRDq2h.jpg?1)

The horizontal axis is now labelled for every quarter, as the individual monthly labels were becoming unreadable.

Chris from Nailsea.  :)

Chart updated to include figures for May 2012: see above.

I did notice there were fewer posts in May, particularly in the past two weeks. I suspect that big ball of flaming gas 93 million miles away had something to do with the drop off in posts.

Yeah I noticed how quiet it had been when the weather is good too..

What happened in January 2008

Hmm. ::)  We had a lot of very boisterous teenagers on this forum back then: don't ask!  :o

Chart updated (belatedly, for which my apologies! :-[ ) to include figures for June 2012: see above.

As a result of reader feedback, I've added vertical gridlines to the printout, to hopefully improve clarity.

Chart now updated to include the figures for July 2012: see above.

See also http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10588.msg115512#msg115512 for a discussion of these latest figures.

Hope this helps / is of interest.  Chris.  ;)

Chart now updated to include the figures for August 2012: see above.

Chart now updated to include the figures for September 2012: see my original post above.

See also http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10588.msg118412#msg118412 for a discussion of these latest figures.

As ever, I hope this is of some interest. CfN.  :)

Chart now updated to include the figures for October 2012: see my original post above.

Chart now updated to include the figures for November 2012: see my original post above.

Hope this is of some interest.  CfN.  :)

I have now updated (and enhanced) my monthly chart, to include the figures for December - see my original post in this topic above.

As a result of reader feedback (well, a rather pointed comment from grahame, actually :-[ ), I've now added a further line in this chart, to show more clearly the ongoing trend in average posts per month.  While the red line gives a rather simplistic view of the overall average of posts on this forum over the past six years, the new green line gives a more detailed impression of the ongoing average, measured over the past twelve months from any point.

The concept of such a 'moving annual average' is not new to the railways - but in this chart, for example, it does show how it takes a little time for any upturn in performance (or posts made, in our case) to be reflected in that moving average figure. :o

For those who have any problem with colours, I'd liken the simple 'average total' red line to the one taking a 'Berks and Hants' trajectory, rather than the rather more flamboyant 'via Bristol' trajectory of the 'moving annual average' green line on the chart.

As ever: I hope this helps, and Happy New Year!  ;) :D ;D

Chart now updated to include the figures for January 2013: see my original post above.

See also http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10588.msg125664#msg125664 for a discussion of these latest figures.

As ever, I hope this is of some interest, to someone.  Chris.  :)

It will be interesting to see if in coming months the upwards trend continues, it levels off, or it turns out to be a spike ... I wouldn't like to offer a prediction.

Neither would I, grahame: that blue line showing the total monthly posts is quite volatile, and doesn't seem to follow any particular seasonal, phase of the moon, or other predictable cycle that I can discern ...  ::)

However: we live in interesting times, so ...  ;D

Chart now updated to include the figures for February 2013: see my original post above.

As might be expected, the blue line (showing the total number of posts for each calendar month) has dipped slightly, but the green 'moving annual average' line has continued to move upwards gradually, which is encouraging.

31 days in March, so we'll see what happens this month.  ;)

In some respects, there is probably a correlation between number of posts on the forum and how well the rail industry is doing getting people from A to B.

November through January was a particularly trying time on the rail network, thanks, in no small part, to the atrocious weather. Major flooding affected services across the country and the region covered by the Coffee Shop was particularly badly affected.

When things are going well there is less reason to comment on that regular journey you make. When things have gone t*** up, folk understandably want to share their experiences.

No huge public announcements or operational calamities in February. 15% down in post numbers;  4.5% down on posts per day as February is a short month.  Still a higher posting rate, I note, than any month in 2012!

My chart has now been updated to include the figures for March - see my original post on this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574).

An encouraging and consistent level of posts over the past few months - with thanks to all who have contributed to our various ongoing discussions!  :D

I have now updated the figures on my chart to include those for April (see my original post above (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574)) - again, an encouraging upward trend, on all three lines!

To add some gravitas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitas) to my rather simplistic statistics, grahame has posted his own thoughts at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10588.msg131975#msg131975

As ever, I hope this is of at least some interest to someone on the Coffee Shop forum!  ;D

I've now updated my chart to include the figures for May (see my original post above (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574)) - still an encouraging upward trend on the 'moving annual average' green line!

As ever, I hope this is of some interest to readers of this forum! ;D

Thanks for these posts, Chris ... the moving average (green line) is statistically the most meaningful on the graph. The monthly figures are so up and down that the major pattern they show is that there is no pattern  ;D and the red line is slugged by figures that go back to a time when our whole metrics were very different.

Thanks, grahame.  ;)

I've now updated my graph to include the figures for June, and the latest version is now available in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) on this topic.

The blue line has clearly taken a bit of a dive, due perhaps at least in part to our perturbation in service on the Coffee Shop forum in the past month, but the green line maintains its determinedly upward trajectory.

As ever, I hope this is of some interest to our readers.  Any comments or suggestions will be welcomed!  :D

Noticeable dips in June and/or July in many previous years as well. Could well be a seasonal thing. We've also had little in the way of major news items affecting the Greater Western area. Still waiting for the announcement on the management contract. That should come before the parliamentary recess.

I agree that the major outage won't have helped either.

It looks like a drop in posting rather than other activities, Chris.  June is a day shorter that May, and we were off air for a complete day too.  And look back to last year (as hinted at by BNM) - we saw a drop from 1469 to 1010 posts. This year was 1914 to 1273.

From Google Analytics ...
12676 unique visitors on 27792 visits in May 2013
13852 unique visitors on 31169 visits in June 2013

Logged in during the second half of the month - 200 different users.   Logged in during the first half, but not returned during the second half - a further 40 users. Without restoring an old backup onto a test system, I can't give you a comparative for a previous month, but I'm reasonably happy with the figures.   Not thrilled about the need to move the server in an unplanned way - which put us off air for the best part of a day, and then took a further day for the address change to filter round the world's caches, meaning that some users were out for the best part of two days.

In all of the circumstances, much as I might have predicted - actually perhaps a bit better.  Of course, if the railways suddenly ran all to time, had a more understandable fare structure, ran appropriate services with plenty of seats, and had passengers who all followed the rules and etiquette, our posts would drop to a few hundred per month.

Meanwhile, back in the real world - outside cloud cuckoo land and where pigs still don't fly ...  ::) :o ;D

Not quite flying pigs, but I was helping chase pigs up the road today.   Also visited a station with an appropriate service, caught a train on time and bought my ticket, on the day without splits, and got good value. And everyone was very law abiding and polite as far as I could see. 

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/flyingwelshpigs.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/tyg.jpg)

I have noticed what appears to have been a reduction in Forum Posts since the Server Problems.   Perhaps a number of members have not updated their LOGIN details.

Probably not Melksham, then - on some, but certainly not all, of those counts!  ::) :o ;D

That's something I noticed too and - as you can imagine - I have taken a look at the the idea. Four out of every five members who were logged in during the first half of June logged in again having reconfirmed their credentials, and considering the number of occasional visitors we have who account for very few posts but never the less feature with equal value in such statistics, I don't thinks it's put off more than 2 or 3.   

Other comments in this thread describe the reasons we have found for the change;  it's not purely random/perpost because posts tend to come in spurts with a subject on which everyone wants to have their say.  Much more random/perthread, and thread numbers are just a tenth of post numbers, so you'll see huge variation.  Ah the joy of statistics!

Indeed!  ;) :D ;D

I have therefore updated my graph, shown in the original post of this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures for July.

After the server outage kerfuffle in June, a continuing and encouraging upward trend is evident in the monthly number of posts and the moving annual average.

Confirmation, if it were needed, that the Coffee Shop forum has bounced back and is still going strong!  8)

I have now updated my graph, shown in the original post of this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures for August.

A continuing and encouraging upward trend is evident in the moving annual average.  :)

With my apologies for the slight delay this month, I have now updated my graph, shown in the original post of this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures for September.

The continuing upward trend in the moving annual average is encouraging - with thanks to all who have contributed to this forum, over the past month!  ;) :D ;D

I've now updated my graph, shown in the original post of this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures for October.

While the blue line (showing the simple 'number of posts for each month') continues to flicker up and down, the green 'moving annual average' line continues to show an overall increase in the ongoing posting activity on the forum.

Again, thanks to all who have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the success of this discussion forum!  :)

I've now updated my graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for November 2013.

Happy New Year! :D ;D

I've updated the graph in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the final figures for 2013 - an encouraging situation, where the green and blue lines are still above the red one!  ;)

As ever - hope this is of some interest, to someone, somewhere!  ::)

Happy New Year to you, too Chris - you were up even earlier than I was.   This thread forms a very useful long term story of how "we" are doing - and I've quoted the word we as it's not really about just us - it's about how much is happening on the railway scene in this part of the country too.   Bad news gives us a huge boost, good news gives us (such is human nature) a much smaller boost ...

I've now updated the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for January 2014.

There was a slight reduction in the number of posts last month, perhaps affected by our server problem, and the moving annual average figure took a hit because a particularly high number of posts in January last year were taken out of the calculation.

Nevertheless, the ongoing position seems fairly encouraging - a generally steady number of posts each month: thanks to all of our members!

Out of interest, I'm attaching a Google Analytics report for January which gives further insite.

I have now updated the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for February 2014.

As we rather expected, the number of posts went through the roof somewhat, due mainly to the weather.  ;D

An old adage of journalism, which is equally true here: 'bad news does wonders for the circulation!'  ::)

I have now updated my graph, shown in the original post on this topic, to include the figures for March 2014.

An encouraging upward trend, I think - on average!  ;) :D ;D

Also nice to note we passed the 1500 member mark during March.

Chart now updated to include figures for April 2014.

I have now updated the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) in this topic to include the figures for May 2014.  :)

I've now updated my graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.0) to include the figures for June 2014.

Funny how posts drop when the weather gets warm!

Annual thing ... last month was busier that June 2013 or June 2012 ...

Yes - but I didn't want to mention last June....  ;D

I have now updated my graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.0) to include the figures for July 2014.

Interestingly, while the figures for the total posts made in June 2014, June 2013 and June 2012 were indeed particularly low - as others have pointed out - the figures for June 2011 and June 2009 (and, to some extent, June 2010 and even June 2008) were all comparatively 'high points'.

Aren't statistics fascinating?  ;) :D ;D

I've been noting this "lazy June" pattern, and really can't offer much any explanation.

The figures the web site tells us are for posts; other data from Google analytics reveals a similar pattern in other measure

Sessions - 31419 in January, 37701 in February, 31620 in March, 29206 in April, 28504 in May, 28640 in June, 32833 in July

Users - 12685 in January, 16801 in February, 12543 in March, 11753 in April,11922 in May, 12093 in June, 13582 in July

Pages - 155562 in January, 204850 in February, 181053 in March, 156800 in April, 141662 in May, 143829 in June, 173316 in July

And forum stats
1645, 2424, 2132, 1885, 1534, 1474 and 1895 posts (Jan to July)
135, 104, 155, 159, 123, 119 and 138 new subjects (Jan to July)

I've now updated the chart in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for August 2014.

Interestingly, all three lines seem to be straight across for last month - perhaps an example of 'steady as she goes'?  ;) :D ;D

I have now updated the graph in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596) to include the figures for September 2014.

We seem to be maintaining a healthy average of around 1,750 posts each month - providing a lively debate, and much entertainment, for our Coffee Shop forum readers: thanks to all who contribute!  :D

The figures in the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) in this topic have now been updated to include October 2014.  ;)

I have now updated the chart in my original post on this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for November 2014.  :)

I've now updated my graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.0) to include the figures for December 2014.

As ever, thanks to everyone who contributes to the Coffee Shop forum - and Happy New Year!  ;) :D ;D

The figures in the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) in this topic have now been updated to include January 2015.  ;)

I've now updated my graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.0) to include the figures for February 2015.

A bit of a dip in the number of posts in the past two months - but then, this time last year, we were all discussing some rather unusual events - such as this:

(http://i.imgur.com/iHymDTq.png)

CfN.  ;) :D ;D

We should, rather, celebrate the lack of such events to talk about

January 2014 we averaged 53.06 posts per day
January 2015 we averaged 59.23 posts per day
February 2015 we averaged 60.14 posts per day

In the last 2 years we have been as low as 42.43 posts per day (June 2013) and as high as 86.57 (February 2014) and 73.9 (October 2014) both of which were difficult months in which there were problems (!) running trains to schedule.  For passenger's sake, I'm happy with 60 posts a day.

And in 2015 the orginal "Temporary Wall Surface" sign is still there... :-X :D ;D

I was rather pleased with that composite picture, actually.  ;D

I have now (slightly belatedly, for which I apologise - due to home internet connection problems!) updated the graph in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures for March 2015.

Hope this is of some interest, to someone, somewhere.  ;) :D ;D

... and now, after a long break in my updating service (due to connectivity problems with my printer / scanner), I've now updated the chart in my original post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include figures up to September 2015.

I've amended the horizontal axis labels to two-monthly, as the individual monthly ones were starting to overlap. Next month, I'll move to quarterly labels, for greater clarity.

Hope this is of interest!

Good to see this thanks, Chris - I keep an eye on the District green and Piccadilly blue lines.

... and now, after a further gap in this service, I am at last able to provide an updated chart, in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures up to June 2016.

I offer my apologies for the further breakdown in recent service, but I have to do this in my own time at home, on my rather basic and temperamental printer / scanner.  ::)

In the interests of clarity, you will note that I have now moved to a three-monthly (quarterly) scale on the horizontal axis - as explained above.  ;)

Thank you Chris. As I'm sure you'll say I should get out more, but I do find these stats interesting.

For those who are interested ( ;) ), I have now updated the chart in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574), to include the figures for July 2016.  :-X

With apologies for the interruption to this service, due to my old printer/scanner packing up altogether, I have now updated the graph in the original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include figures up to December 2016.

I have now updated the chart in my original post in this topic (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10596.msg109574#msg109574) to include the figures up to March 2017.